Of Birds and Fish
by Keizer
Summary: [TezukaFuji] What if it wasn't the mermaid who fell in love with the prince, but the prince who fell in love with the mermaid? Prince Fuji Syuusuke fell in love with the sea. It began as interest and escalated into obsession.


**Disclaimer: Don't own "The Mermaid", "The Little Mermaid", or Prince of Tennis.**

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**Of Birds and Fish**

_"Far out at sea the water is as blue as the bluest cornflower, and as clear as the clearest crystal; but it is very deep, too deep for any cable to fathom, and if many steeples were piled on the top of one another they would not reach from the bed of the sea to the surface of the water. It is down there that the Mermen live."_- "The Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen

Anyone who entered the little prince's bedchamber could tell he had an obsession. The walls of the boy's room were painted with the purest blue of the bluest cornflower that could be found in the kingdom, and master painters had come and painted a beautiful mural of the mythical realm of the Mermen. The windows in the room were all fitted with a pane of the finest, clearest amber in the land. Glowing pearls fit for any Queen's crown were sewed onto the little prince's pillows and cushions. The prince's large bed was cleverly designed to match the underwater theme with seaweed like streamers forming the curtains and large open mussel with pearls inside on the canopy. However, all of these lovely decorations paled in comparison to the small driftwood carving of a young merman sitting on a rock. This was the greatest treasure of the young prince.

As far as anyone could remember, the little prince had always been in love with the sea. Yet, only the members of the royal family, save the youngest child, Yuuta, knew why their beloved darling, the Prince Fuji Syuusuke, had come to be so deeply obsessed with the ocean. The king and the queen had decided that it was a sign of divine favor to young Syuusuke, and they showered him with all their affection, offering him anything his little heart could possibly desire. Syuusuke's elder sister, Princess Yumiko, believed that it was destiny's gentle push rather than divine favor. The younger prince, Yuuta, merely felt that it was just some accident that his older brother was getting an outrageous amount of attention for. As for Syuusuke himself, the memories of the incident were sacred to him and he refused to reveal what he experienced in that incident to anyone, but Yumiko.

It occurred twelve years ago, when Prince Syuusuke was three. The royal family had arranged a marvelous feast on their personal vessel to celebrate the summer solstice. Throughout the festivities, Prince Syuusuke had been missing though no one found it unusual until Princess Yumiko screamed that Syuusuke fell overboard. As everyone crowded toward the starboard side of the ship to try to spot the missing prince, the only sign of the prince they could spot was the red ribbon that Syuusuke always wore in his hair. It was with great panic and desperation that the once merry ship returned to dock. The king and queen quickly dispatched the Navy in a vain attempt to find the boy prince or at least his body.

After a week of search, the king and queen had simply given up on ever recovering the corpse of their son. Therefore it came as a complete surprise when word reached them from the most distant province of Chiba that the Prince Syuusuke had been found. Upon his return, the king and queen welcomed their lost son with a grand feast and allowed Saeki, the boy who had found Syuusuke on the beach, to remain in the palace as Syuusuke's companion.

Everyone noticed the change in Prince Syuusuke. Syuusuke had always been a sullen and serious child with a pleasant disposition, but upon his return, not only had he become obsessed with the ocean, he had also become more cheerful. Prince Syuusuke also spent an enormous amount of his free time with the peasant boy, Saeki.

The glimpses of the two boy's conversation often surprised the courtiers or servants who caught them. Most people expected two boys to discuss what dragons they are planning to slay or what escapades they are planning on going on. No one was quite sure of what to make of the two little boys conversing about the merfolk. Saeki appeared to know quite a bit about the merfolk and their habits. Syuusuke delighted in getting Saeki to tell different stories about the merfolk, but his favorite one was about the little mermaid who fell in love with the human. Yet, Saeki never did tell Syuusuke the ending to that story no matter how much the prince begged him. Whenever Syuusuke pleaded to hear the ending, Saeki merely smiled and stated, "The rest of the little mermaid's story is not for me to tell, Syuusuke. It is best that you find out the ending for yourself, my prince."

Syuusuke tugged his faithful horse across the sandy beach, watching as the receding the tide lapped at their feet. The sun had just peeked over the horizon and stained the gray heavens with a few orange rays. The fifteen-year old Syuusuke had hoped that Saeki would be able to join him for his morning walk along the beach today, but the other youth usually had great difficulties getting up at dawn. Hence, Prince Syuusuke was left to stroll down the beach with only his beloved horse as a companion. A great deal of driftwood had washed ashore during the storm last night so the boy and the horse had to carefully pick their way through the mess.

At first, Syuusuke was shocked, and then, he was delighted. Along with the driftwood, it seemed that last night's storm had dragged a merman ashore. Fuji quickly went to the unconscious merman's side and checked for injuries. A bit of blood stained the back of the merboy's head where was no doubt hit by a bit of driftwood and knocked unconscious. Syuusuke decided to shred his white linen shirt to make a temporary bandage for the head wound. With the help of his horse, Syuusuke managed to get the merboy into the shallows.

Prince Syuusuke ended spending a good part of his morning on the beach watching over the still unconscious merman. However, it wasn't long before he spotted a servant who was coming in his direction, no doubt to take him back to the palace. With the utmost care, Syuusuke hid the resting merboy behind a large rock outcropping before wrapping his thick cloak around himself. Taking one last glance at the merboy, the human prince whispered a soft good-bye to the merman and led his horse away from the resting merboy, towards the approaching servant.

It was quite apparent now that Prince Fuji Syuusuke had lost his heart to the sea. With each passing day, Syuusuke spent more time out at sea on a ship or boat or on the beach watching the ocean than he did at his palace home. Prince Syuusuke had also developed a habit of always carrying a ripped linen shirt of his around. Syuusuke bombarded Saeki with requests for the tale of the mermaid more frequently as well.

And then one day, he approached Saeki again, but this time to ask him if knew of any witches that could help him become a merman. Saeki wasn't shocked like Syuusuke had thought he would be. He told Syuusuke of an old hag back in Chiba who was capable of turning him into a mermaid so long as he cared to pay the price. Prince Syuusuke had already decided that he would be willing to give up everything in order to enter the realm of the merfolk and see his beloved merman again.

The two boys stole away to Chiba that very night. Syuusuke had told his family that he and Saeki were going to go sailing for a week, and the king and queen could only agree despite the knot that formed in their brows. The journey to Chiba would take five of the seven days, but by then, Syuusuke hoped that he would be swimming into the depth of the ocean toward the home of the Mermen.

Upon arrival in Chiba, the prince wasted no time in finding food and shelter despite the tiring journey, choosing to make haste to the old hag's cave by the sea instead. Saeki left opted to leave the prince's company, simply smiling and stating, "This is my fork in the road, dear prince. Continue forward towards your own destiny now."

Syuusuke's journey to the hag's cave was not an easy one. The marsh in front of the cave was overgrown and filled with constricting serpents. He was forced to leave his faithful horse behind and make the rest of the trip on foot. Having been warned, Syuusuke nimbly ran through the forest, not daring to stay in one spot more than a second lest the serpents move to strike.

It seemed the hag had known of the prince's arrival too. She gave Syuusuke a deal; his voice for a merman's tail, but not just any tail, an iridescent tail so exquisite that it would be the envy of all of the merfolk. Syuusuke would be able to swim with more grace and elegance than any dolphin could ever hope to achieve, but with each stroke of his powerful tail, he would feel as though a thousand knives were stabbing into his tail. Most importantly, Syuusuke must earn the love of one of the merman he rescued or he shall turn into foam on the morning after his love's marriage with another.

Syuusuke agreed with no reluctance or remorse. The hag cut off Syuusuke's tongue, but the prince didn't make a single sound nor shed a tear. The potion was brewed, and Syuusuke watched the proceedings with nothing but his ever-present smile. The hag gave the potion to Syuusuke, telling him to drink the potion at the beach and that it will ward off the serpents in the marsh.

Syuusuke's trek back through the marsh went smoothly. Like the hag had said, the serpents shied away from the eerie glow that the potion eluded while Syuusuke cared it to the edge of the sea. Thinking of his family and friends one last time, Syuusuke drank the potion and felt the effects render him helpless.

It was as though his legs had been alight by the hot fires used to fire ceramics. Syuusuke slowly felt his legs melt together to form a tail burning off his trousers in the process. Trying the ragged linen that he had once used to bandage the merboy's tail around his right arm, Syuusuke threw off his shirt and dove into the sea.

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**Auther's Note: **After experiencing with long fics, I found that my fickle heart could not bear to continue on that one fic. The plot bunnies in my mind multiply more than real rabbits do and my fleeting fancy chases after them. I imagine that this story will only be around two chapters long. 

There are a couple of things I'd like to say. I mainly based the plot off of "The Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen though as you can see, I reversed the roles. The names were adapted to fitted best for the story. The character's personalities were readapted to what fit the plot. Sorry, if they seemed a bit OOC.

The next chapter, the concluding chapter, I'm not quite sure if I should be nice and give this story the classic Disney ending or I should do the Hans Christian Andersen thing and end with the death of Syuusuke….Or maybe I should just kill the both of them…Please offer me your opinions…

Thanks for reading and please review!


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